HHMI Awards Gilliam Fellowships to Advisor-Student Pairs, Including MBL Alumni

Duke University Medical School doctoral student Briana Davis (alumna, MBL Zebrafish Development and Genetics, 2019) and her advisor John Rawls (course director, MBL Frontiers in Host-Microbe Interactions, 2015) have been awarded a Gilliam Fellowship from Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). The fellowships, which provide $50K per year for up to three years, seek to increase the diversity of scientists at the faculty level by supporting students who will become scientific leaders.

“These fellows are amazing scientists,” said Sonia Zárate, an HHMI program officer. “They are doing incredible work in their fields, and their advisers and institutions are notable in their commitment to creating inclusive scientific spaces.”

The Rawls lab seeks to understand how the intestinal microbiome contributes to vertebrate physiology and disease. Rawls also directs The Duke Microbiome Center. Davis joined the Rawls lab in the spring of 2019 and is studying the microbial regulation of transcription factors in the intestinal epithelium.